Currently, single optical discs, such as CDs and DVDs, and cartridges housing an optical disc, such as DVD-RAM, for purposes including protection of the surface of the disc have been used as information storage media for computers, audio visual devices, and others.
Consequently, optical disc devices in which such a single disc or cartridge is mounted on a tray, and then loaded into the body thereof have been developed.
In addition, the footprints of computers, audio visual devices, and others have been increasingly reduced and users' use thereof has become diverse. For these reasons, it has been necessary to develop computers and audio visual devices that can be placed both horizontally and vertically. This also applies to optical disc devices, and those that can be used in both horizontal and vertical orientations have been developed.
Examples of such conventional optical disc devices include a device having a tray that is provided with a disc holding portion that is retractable on the mounting surface for mounting a single disc or a cartridge that, when a single disc is mounted on the tray with the mounting surface set vertically, protrudes above the mounting surface of the tray so that the periphery portion of the single disc or the cartridge is held by the disc holding portion, and that, when a cartridge is mounted on the tray with the mounting surface set vertically or when either a single disc or a cartridge is mounted on the tray with the mounting surface set horizontally, sinks under the mounting surface of the tray (for example, see Japanese Patent No. 3012172 published on Jan. 10, 1997 (hereinafter referred to as Patent document 1).
In addition, there is also an optical disc device that, in addition to the above-described disc holding portion, is provided with another disc holding portion that can freely move in the tray transfer direction, to be used together with the above-described retractable disc holding portion (for example, see Japanese Patent No. 2882321 published on Apr. 4, 1997 (hereinafter referred to as Patent document 2)).
Furthermore, there is an optical disc device that has a tray provided with a disc holding member and that can form a single disc mounting space in a vertical orientation so that the periphery portion of the disc is held when a single disc is mounted on the mounting surface that has been set vertically as well as a single disc mounting space in a horizontal orientation so that the periphery portion of the disc is held when a single disc is mounted on the mounting surface that has been set horizontally, although it cannot handle a cartridge (for example, see Japanese Patent No. 3321851 published on Apr. 22, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as Patent document 3)).
However, according to the configurations of the optical disc devices described in the above-described Patent documents 1 and 2, since a disc holding portion is retractable on the holding surface (mounting surface) of a tray, the disc holding portion protrudes from the bottom surface of the tray when in a state in which the disc holding portion is sunk. This imposes limitations on the layout of components under the tray. In addition, if a tray with an increased thickness is used so that the disc holding portion does not protrude from the bottom surface of the tray, the thickness of the optical disc device as a whole becomes large.
According to the configurations of the optical disc device described in the above-described Patent document 2, a disc holding portion that can freely move in the tray transfer direction is provided, and a cartridge is sandwiched and held by drive springs that have been provided in the disc holding portion. However, an optical pickup for recording and reproducing information on and from a disc that has been housed in a cartridge is disposed in a portion to which the disc holding portion is transferred, and the optical pickup passes through under the disc holding portion during recording and reproducing of the periphery portion of the disc. For this reason, the disc holding portion cannot be placed lower than the recording surface of the disc, which makes it impossible to reduce the thickness of the optical disc device as a whole.
In addition, in the configurations of the optical disc device described in the above-described Patent document 3, only a method for holding a single disc is disclosed without description on application to a cartridge, and a cartridge cannot be mounted.
Additionally, although it is not mentioned in the above-described Patent documents 1, 2, and 3, a clamper is placed at a location opposite from the turn table across the disc so that the disc can be chucked to the turn table. This clamper is provided with a clamper arm to enable handling of both the single disc and the cartridge. The clamper is stationed out of the way by the clamper arm during loading of a cartridge to avoid contact between the clamper and the cartridge. Since the clamper arm is configured so that the other end thereof is operated by a protrusion provided to the tray, its height is limited to prevent interference between the other end of the clamper arm and the above-described disc holding portion. Consequently, the disc holding portion is restricted by the optical pickup on its lower side and by the clamper arm on its upper side, which makes its thickness small and its strength weak.
Given these factors, the present invention is carried out in view of the above-described problems, and has an object of providing a small-sized optical disc device that allows arbitral setting of the tray orientation, such as horizontal and vertical, and that can handle both a single disc and a cartridge housing a disc as an external information storage medium to be mounted on a tray.